Usage of R Packages

Author
Affiliation

Prof. J Babiera and Prof. R Cuenca

Center for Computational Analytics and Modelling (CCAM), PRISM, MSU-IIT

For Windows OS

To install and use packages in R on a 64-bit Windows system, follow these steps:

1. Install Packages from CRAN

The Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN) hosts numerous R packages. To install a package from CRAN:

  • Open RStudio Console.

  • Use the install.packages() function with the package name in quotes:

    install.packages("package_name")

    For example, to install the ggplot2 package:

    install.packages("ggplot2")

  • If prompted, select a CRAN mirror close to your location.

2. Install Packages from Bioconductor

Bioconductor provides packages for bioinformatics. To install packages from Bioconductor:

  • Install the BiocManager package if not already installed:

    install.packages("BiocManager")

  • Use BiocManager::install() to install the desired package:

    BiocManager::install("package_name")

    For example, to install the limma package:

    BiocManager::install("limma")

3. Install Packages from GitHub

Some packages are hosted on GitHub. To install them:

  • Install the devtools package if not already installed:

    install.packages("devtools")

  • Use devtools::install_github() with the repository name:

    devtools::install_github("username/repository")

    For example, to install the ggplot2 package from its GitHub repository:

    devtools::install_github("tidyverse/ggplot2")

4. Load Installed Packages

After installation, load a package into your R session using the library() function:

library(package_name)

For example, to load the ggplot2 package:

library(ggplot2)

Once loaded, you can access the functions and datasets provided by the package.

5. Verify Package Installation

To confirm that a package is installed:

  • Use the installed.packages() function:

    installed_packages <- installed.packages()

"package_name" %in% rownames(installed_packages)

    This returns TRUE if the package is installed, otherwise FALSE.

6. Update Installed Packages

Regularly update packages to incorporate improvements and bug fixes:

  • To update all installed packages:

    update.packages()

  • To update a specific package:

    install.packages("package_name")

7. Remove Installed Packages

To uninstall a package:

remove.packages("package_name")

For example, to remove the ggplot2 package:

remove.packages("ggplot2")

By following these steps, you can effectively manage R packages on your Windows system.

For macOS

Installing R packages in macOS is strikingly similar to Windows systems.

What’s Next?